WASHINGTON – When the Los Angeles Angels drafted Jo Adell with the 10th overall pick in 2017, it seemed unlikely he’d ever share the outfield in Anaheim with the greatest player in the game.

Mike Trout, after all, is a free agent after the 2020 season, and given the uncertainties in player development, it wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario where Adell might be setting up his locker at Angel Stadium just as Trout prepared to clean out his own.

Yet just 13 months after Adell walked out of Louisville’s Ballard High School and into a professional career, a Trout-Adell pairing is looking less like a longshot and more like an inevitability.

It’s a scenario that Adell admits he can’t help but ponder, even from the far-off, Class A California League.

“Totally. Absolutely,” Adell told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday at Nationals Park, before he hit leadoff and played center field for USA in the Futures Game. “It’s really cool if someone that my age, as young as, hopefully, I’ll be by the time I get up, can play with someone of that caliber. That’s something you’d talk about for years.”

Adell is in so many ways the modern ballplayer – a high-information hitter already honing his approach even in high-A ball, a polished product at 19 thanks to travel ball and high-end coaching.

Yet the manner in which he’s dominated two levels this year against much older competition suggests Adell may run counter to the 2018 ballplayer archetype.

Adell did not turn 19 until April 8, yet blazed through the Midwest League this spring, posting a 1.009 on base plus slugging percentage in 25 games. After his promotion to Inland Empire (San Bernardino) in the California League, Adell is competing against players on average more than three years older than him.

No matter. He’s batting .314, still getting on base at a .397 clip and has stolen seven bases in eight attempts.

Overall this season, he’s hit 17 home runs in 286 at-bats, stolen 11 bases in 13 attempts and opened immeasurable eyes with his play in center field.

Sunday, he tripled and contributed a sacrifice fly in Team USA's 10-6 Futures Game victory.

“With the numbers he put up in low-A and now high-A, he’s forcing the hand of the Angels organization to move him up to Double-A this year,” says San Diego Padres prospect Buddy Reed, the former Florida Gators star who at 23 is nonetheless Adell’s peer in the Cal League. “He’s 18, I believe? When I was 18, I was in college. He’s definitely got a good head on his shoulders. He still has a lot of work to do, as we all do, to make it to the majors.

“But I honestly think he’s very close to putting it all together and being one of the premier and top outfielders in all of baseball in a couple years - maybe even next year.”

His peers are dispensing with the what-ifs on Adell’s major league prospects. “You can already see it,” says Reds prospect Taylor Trammell, who caught some of Adell’s artistry in the Midwest League. “You already know it.”

And just what would the major leagues look like with Adell in it? Oh, he won’t reverse the record-setting strikeout pace. Adell has 78 strikeouts this season, and wisely realizes his still-developing 6-3, 208-pound frame shouldn’t be slapping the ball around.

“If I put up a half-swing just to put the ball in play,” he says, “I’m not going to be able to do my job effectively. If I can get in the box and take my best swing, I’m going to do damage.

“Strikeouts are part of the game, but at least I can go back and say I put up my best swing, right?”

Indeed. Yet Adell’s speed – his time to first from the right side is around 4.15 seconds – presents a dimension that may bedevil opposing catchers and shift-creating analysts alike.

“I just want to impact every part of the game that I can,” says Adell. “That’s why I work on the baserunning stuff. That’s why I work on first step in the outfield. Little stuff like that goes a long way – anything from taking an extra step on a lead, that prevents you from getting thrown out by a guy like Buddy Reed. You may not need that lead at low-A, but you’ll need it at high-A.”

And also in the big leagues. The Angels bought Adell out of a University of Louisville commitment with a $4.37 million signing bonus. A year later, they grabbed a similarly dynamic athlete, Jordyn Adams, with the 17th overall pick.

Perhaps the club is one step ahead of another shift in the game – power is great, but a dash of speed with it is even better.

“Pure athlete,” Reed says of Adell. “Raw, but at the same time I think he’s getting out of that raw stage and becoming a complete player that can do all things on the baseball field from a hitting standpoint and defensively.”

Kind of like the guy already in Anaheim. Who knows whether the Angels’ paucity of playoff berths might inspire a Trout departure. Then again, a dynamic running mate might help convince him to stay.

At the least, they share the same goals.

“At the end of the day, we all want to win a ring,” says Adell. “We all want to win a World Series.”